Rather have ants than cockroaches

My first apartment in New York City was on the ground floor of a pre-war building. The moment I walked into it I was in love.

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poconorecord.com

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Posted Mar. 22, 2013 at 12:01 AM

Posted Mar. 22, 2013 at 12:01 AM

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My first apartment in New York City was on the ground floor of a pre-war building. The moment I walked into it I was in love.

High ceilings and moldings, even big double-hung windows that opened on chains.

The bathroom was charming. It had a giant bathtub and a sink with a separate spigot for hot and cold.

The tile floor was black and white and put down long before I was born.

The kitchen looked out into a courtyard. It was roomy enough for a small café table and two chairs.

The kitchen had the same wooden floors that ran through the whole apartment. The cabinets were metal. They had space for some plates and a small amount of groceries.

The place was amazing and the rent was $950 a month, everything included, which in 1993 was a deal! I couldn't move my stuff in fast enough.

What I hadn't looked at were the pre-war closets. There were two of them and they could hold very little. They were about the size of a small linen closet. This caused clothes to be scattered and piled up in my bedroom as working in the fashion industry leads to a very dreamy thing "¦ clothes at cost!

I just adapted.

I also discovered why ground floor apartments facing out to the street were abundant.

First, there was the constant people stopping and gazing in. Yeah, that was creepy.

I love natural light so I opened my windows and curtains and let the light in. And the visitors. People would strike up conversations with me as I sipped my morning coffee.

I quickly learned to live in dimmer conditions.

Then there was the second issue: My roommates.

They included water bugs that would crawl out of the drain in the tub. They were — I kid you not — the size of a child's foot. I picked one up with a spatula once and flung it out onto 78th Street. Then there were the cockroaches. I learned to flick the lights on in the kitchen and wait a few minutes before walking in. If you entered too quickly, you would be greeted with the vision of cockroaches scattering at lightning speed in all directions.

I had never seen a cockroach in my life until I moved to the city but let me tell you, I knew I was looking at one the moment I laid eyes on it.

I quickly learned to keep what little food I had in the refrigerator and microwave. No food — even in cans — could be kept out. It was a constant battle and many visitors from the exterminator but it only kept them at bay for a little while.

My house now? Cluttered. Small. Purchased for its charm and not its storage ability. And not for adding two more kids. Or ever needing more than one bathroom (ugh!)